Trumpism is a radically individualistic worldview that pits people and groups against each other in a zero-sum competition instead of working together to increase opportunity for everyone. In this way, Trump’s politics and business practices overlap.
I read a great line by
taking on the claim that the Trump Organization’s fraud was a “victimless crime”:Less tangibly, but no less importantly, is the damage that this persistent fraud does to the marketplace itself. Put simply, lying about your creditworthiness makes it more difficult for lenders to price risk, and so they have to charge a higher premium to everybody….
For years, Trump argued that the state of New York, “the financial capital of the country and one of the financial capitals of the world,” had no interest in preserving the integrity of the market itself in the absence of a lender complaining of injury. But as Justice Engoron points out, that’s simply a defense of the right to steal a little bit from everyone “stupid” enough to tell the truth on their loan applications.
Liz’ description reminded me of a rabbinic teaching I’ve taught on before, describing the corruption that we are told preceded the story of Noah and the Flood. The Torah says “the land was full of חמס/corruption/violence.”
According to the rabbis, this means a peddler would bring an apple cart to market, and everyone would steal a single apple. Each individual theft was too insignificant to prosecute. But before long, the peddler lost their entire supply. In a sense, the rabbis were saying that each theft was close to a victimless crime. But their accumulation destroyed the world.
The atmosphere the rabbis describe was one in which everyone acted in their own narrow self-interest and within the range of what “everyone was already doing.” The overall effect, though, effectively deterred anyone from bringing apples to sell. The practice destroyed any expectation of a fair market, which made life hard for all the other peddlers. The sense that you needed to cheat to get ahead incentivized still more moral corner-cutting, which continued to ultimately benefit a fewer and fewer elite and victimized everyone else. After all, the very point of a fair market is that more vulnerable participants are protected from stronger would-be predators. Eventually, society collapsed entirely. I said:
The amount of overall wealth in our society is truly staggering, yet our culture’s blinding focus on individualism has resulted in both the rich getting richer and social mobility becoming harder. In short, the “violence/corruption” that doomed the world to the Flood was not Bernie Madoff – it was AIG and Goldman Sachs.1
People who steal the apple are individualists, not collectivists. They are acting in their own self-interest, bending the rules where necessary. They may gain in the short term, but eventually that kind of unadulterated individualism makes it harder in the long run for almost everyone.
Donald Trump is in this same mold, but instead of stealing a little from one person, his business stole a little from everyone. In a sense, he stole the idea of a commons itself. Trump contributed to a sense of distrust in the marketplace itself, which incentivized the same destructive behaviors that were his hallmark. As a result, Trump contributed to an environment where other firms felt the need to be dishonest with their own numbers to compete - and even then stood a chance to lose business they should have deserved.
Trumpism is a radically individualistic worldview that pits people and groups against each other in a zero-sum competition instead of working together to increase opportunity for everyone. In this way, Trump’s politics and business practices overlap. (This was the first point I ever put into writing about Trump as a fascist/anti-democrat, citing
before it was cool.2)In politics, the alternative to Trumpism is participative, empathetic democracy. In business, it is, as Judge Engoron wrote, respect for others and for the marketplace itself.
Some more links about the Super Bowl. I ultimately disagree with both of them, but I understand the effort:
“Can a Jewish fan watch the Super Bowl with a clean conscience? The rabbis had thoughts,” by
we will continue to watch sports, report on games and enter fantasy football leagues. Yet, what should our motivations be as we watch these games? Do we voyeuristically cheer for the violence, enjoying the hard hits? Or can we re-sensitize ourselves and remind ourselves that these are human beings with families, and futures after their playing days are over?
Super Bowl Sunday… and the Jewish programming challenges by Michael Feldstein
if you ask people which teachers had the most positive effect on their spiritual development, it’s usually those who were able to recognize the need for youngsters to engage in some light entertainment such as sports or music – and who focused on the positives of being Torah observant rather than the negatives of secular culture.
Of course, there are limits to what should be acceptable with respect to secular activities – and we do need some red lines that we should not be crossing. In terms of watching the Super Bowl and attending other musical and sporting events, though, I’m not willing to give that up.
Have a good week,
AB
By “Flood,” I meant the Great Recession
https://forward.com/opinion/357874/betraying-your-community-for-the-sake-of-your-schooling/